292 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



The first migrants in spring were observed in numbers at 

 Mobile, March 18 (1912), on which date 4 males of this race 

 were collected. Other specimens were taken near Hurricane, 

 March 20 ; Jackson Lake, Elmore County, March 27 and April 

 19; Teasley Mill (Montgomery County), March 31; Tusca- 

 loosa, April 6; and Sand Mountain (near Carpenter), April 

 14. Avery noted the first arrivals at Greensboro, March 26 

 <1892) and March 27 (1891). The first were seen at Bara- 

 chias, March 20 (1913) ; Woodbine, March 21 (1908) ; and 

 Leighton, April 2 (1890). In autumn the last one was noted 

 at Leighton, September 2 (1889) ; Greensboro, September 19 

 (1890) ; and Autaugaville, October 1 (1915). Dr. Avery ob- 

 served a parula warbler building a nest, on April 9, 1893, at 

 Greensboro and on April 23 he found eggs in the nest. 



General habits. — This dainty little warbler, formerly called 

 the blue yellow-back, is found chiefly in swamps and heavily 

 timbered bottoms where there is an abundance of Spanish 

 "moss" on the trees. In the northern part of the State, where 

 the moss is absent, the bird apparently does not breed in any 

 numbers, though it occurs locally. Living chiefly in the upper 

 parts of the trees, it is rather hard to observe. Its notes, 

 however, are characteristic and aid in its identification. It 

 has at least two distinct songs ; the commonest, perhaps, is a 

 simple, buzzing trill on an ascending scale ending with an 

 abrupt zip. The other, Chapman describes as a "gurgling 

 sizzle, chip-er, chip-er, chip-er, chee-ee-ee-ee." 



In the South, the nest of the parula warbler is usually con- 

 structed in a bunch of Spanish "moss" and is thus almost per- 

 fectly concealed. Allison states that in lower Louisiana the 

 material commonly used for the nest is thistle down, but men- 

 tions a nest found at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, which was 

 made of the blackish, inner fiber of TiUandsia.* 



Food habits. — The parula warbler, like most of its family, 

 is mainly insectivorous. It has been reported as feeding on 

 spiders, caterpillars, small flies, beetles, plant lice, and the 

 larvae of moths. 



•Allison, Andrew, in Chapman, The Warblers of North America, p. 104, 1907. 



